Carlton hits poker machine jackpot

CARLTON has hit a $16.8 million jackpot thanks to new Victorian poker machine laws.

And combined annual revenues for the nine Victorian clubs with pokies will climb by $42.9 million to $76.8 million.

A Monash University report reveals the Blues will gorge on gaming revenues this year -- more than doubling what they took in 2012.

Hawthorn will also cash in, with their cut of revenues under the industry's new tax regime set to soar to $13.3 million.

Collingwood and Essendon will also smash through the $10 million barrier.

The Blues control 290 money-spinning machines at four hotels gifted by club powerbroker and pokies king Bruce Mathieson.

Ten-year licenses to run Victorian pokies were auctioned at bargain prices by the Brumby government in 2010 and came into affect in August last year.

The new model has been criticised for being far too generous to venue operators.

Nine out of 10 Victorian AFL clubs control poker machines.

North Melbourne is the only Victorian club without pokies because of a no-gambling policy introduced by the club's board last year.

Critics say the move has made it "nearly impossible'' for North to compete financially.

The Western Bulldogs, who control just 50 machines, have proposed a plan forcing clubs to share the spoils of bumper pokies profits in a bid to close the gap between the AFL's richest and poorest clubs.

Carlton said the Bulldogs' plan "won't be happening''.

The Monash University report is based on modelling of the state's new pokies tax arrangements and player losses from 2011-12 tabled by the Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation.

Blues chief executive Greg Swann said the figures did not take into account the club's $10 million debt and the expenses of running the venues.

"We've still got to pay for the machines and there's a lot of debt that we carry as well,'' Swann said.

"We would be lucky to net $3.5 million out of that.''

Mathieson and his pokies partner Woolworths also take a chunk of the profits in exchange for managing the venues.

But Swann admitted the club's pokies profits would soar in the back end of the 10-year licences after the debt was cleared.

Monash University gambling researcher Dr Charles Livingstone said the government's new tax regime had gifted pokies owners a licence to print money.

"How the venues -- in this case the AFL clubs -- manage this stream of revenue is their business,'' Livingstone said.

"The point is that they are cashing in on a bonanza essentially gifted to them by the government and which has clearly failed to deliver appropriate value to the people of Victoria.''AFL POKIES LADDER